TORONTO — All of the Rangers will be here tonight, and that includes Manny Malhotra, who will watch the game against the Maple Leafs from the stands now that he’s returned from the World Junior Championships with a bronze medal in his pocket.

Four weeks from now, however, only one Ranger will return here when North America faces the World on Feb. 6 in the 60th All-Star Game. And he’ll be here only because of the unwritten rule mandating that each NHL team be represented in the extravaganza by at least one athlete.

The Post has learned that the NHL seriously considered eliminating that standard this year, indeed conducting a lengthy meeting on that subject in New York on Thursday. But after coming to the conclusion that as many as seven teams probably would not have been represented without that requirement — including the Rangers, Islanders and Canadiens — the league decided that inclusion of all represented the lesser of two evils, for both marketing and internal political reasons.

The league may, however increase roster sizes in order to accommodate at least a couple of those obviously deserving players who would necessarily be bypassed in order to satisfy the 28-team requirement. A year ago, teams for the first time consisted of 24 players after three years of 23-man rosters. In 1994 at the Garden, there were 22 players a side.

So who then from the Rangers? The comparative numbers may not support the argument, but Mike Richter has surely been the team’s most consistent player through the first 39 games. He belongs on the North American team sharing the nets with Curtis Joseph and Martin Brodeur even if goaltenders such as John Vanbiesbrouck, Guy Hebert, Ed Belfour and Steve Shields have registered shinier statistics for better and more successful teams.

“Except for maybe three games when we were in a tailspin [in November], Mike’s been very consistent at a high level all the way through,” John Muckler said following yesterday’s practice at Rye. “Other than that lull, I can’t think of any games where he hasn’t given us high-level goalkeeping.”

The bad goals have been fewer and farther between than the spectacular stops off breakaways and odd-man rushes, that’s for sure. Richter has held the Rangers in games when they’ve been unable to finish enough of their own scoring chances and when they’ve broken down in their own end. In his two seasons since signing as an unrestricted free agent off the Nashville roster, Richter has earned his money.

If, however, the comparative numbers can’t be overlooked and thus, Richter is, then Adam Graves should be the Ranger representative, and if some reason he is not, then it should be Tim Taylor. Kim Johnsson had the right stuff for the first 30 games, and will have other chances to earn a spot, but the freshman’s game has suffered significantly lately.

Stephane Quintal, who missed Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs after suffering neck spasms, will return tonight. Jason Doig thereby returns to street clothes for the 16th time in the last 17 matches after getting six shifts and 4:54 of ice before being benched at 6:21 of the second in his first game since Nov. 26. “I understand putting Jason in that position where he plays after sitting out for so long isn’t at all fair to him, there’s no question,” Muckler said. “You don’t get a true look at him; you can’t make a fair assessment of him.” Asked whether he would then consider promoting a defenseman from Hartford in the event of an injury to a defensemen, Muckler said he would, except “they tell us no one there is ready to play here.”

Theo Fleury missed practice with the flu, but is expected to play. Rangers are in Carolina for a 6 p.m. game tomorrow.